Bush Nominee Plans to Stand Firm on War-Captive Memo

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: January 6, 2005

Alberto R. Gonzales, who goes before the Senate on Thursday as President Bush's pick for attorney general, plans to offer an unapologetic defense of a draft memorandum he wrote in 2002 describing parts of the Geneva Conventions as ''quaint'' and ''obsolete,'' administration officials said on Wednesday.

Critics of the Bush administration, who stepped up their attacks on Mr. Gonzales, the White House counsel, on Wednesday, have called on him to repudiate the memorandum, which held that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to prisoners taken in the war in Afghanistan.

But a senior administration official who is involved in preparing Mr. Gonzales for what could prove a contentious hearing said that he would not back down from the legal rationale he had laid out in the memorandum.

''He'll explain what he meant -- that he stands by the decision not to grant full protection to Al Qaeda and the Taliban under the Geneva Conventions and that that position was correct legally and for important public policy reasons,'' the administration official said.

On Wednesday night, The Associated Press released the text of what it said was the opening statement that Mr. Gonzales planned to deliver on Thursday, in which he said he would abide by treaties prohibiting the torture of prisoners.

''After the attacks of 9/11, our government had fundamental decisions to make concerning how to apply treaties and U.S. law to an enemy that does not wear a uniform, owes no allegiance to any country, is not a party to any treaties and -- most importantly -- does not fight according to the laws of war,'' the statement said.

Asserting that the president was committed to defending the country ''always in a manner consistent with our nation's values and applicable law, including our treaty obligations,'' the statement continued, ''I pledge that if I am confirmed as attorney general, I will abide by those commitments.''

Over the last several weeks, Mr. Gonzales has been meeting with aides at the White House in mock court sessions -- or ''murder boards,'' as aides call them -- to prepare for Thursday's hearing, officials said. Aides play the part of senators, questioning him about his positions on issues including guns, affirmative action and federal cutbacks in financing for local police programs.

Unlike his predecessor, Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose views on most major issues were well known from his days in the Senate, Mr. Gonzales comes into his confirmation hearing as an enigma on many policy questions.

In the sessions, officials have spent the bulk of their time questioning Mr. Gonzales about his positions on the treatment of prisoners in the global campaign against terrorism. The sessions have focused on two documents that have opened Mr. Gonzales to criticism: the 2002 memorandum he wrote on the Geneva Conventions, and a Justice Department opinion that he solicited that year that gave a narrow definition of torture, saying it ''must inflict pain that is difficult to endure.'' The administration has since repudiated that much-criticized definition.

''We know that those two documents are where the Democrats are going to try to beat him up the most,'' the administration official said.

In the memorandum on the Geneva Conventions, Mr. Gonzales suggested that the new war on terrorism had changed the ground rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners.

''In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, scrip (i.e., advances of monthly pay), athletic uniforms and scientific instruments,'' he said.

In fact, the conventions do not require that prisoners of war be given things like athletic uniforms and scientific instruments, but rather that the authorities allow such items to be received by mail.

Officials said that while Mr. Gonzales might distance himself a bit from the use of words like ''quaint'' and ''obsolete'' to describe provisions in the Geneva Conventions, he planned to stand strongly behind the general thrust of the memorandum.

But in the case of the Justice Department's memorandum on torture, he is expected to offer a more nuanced explanation, officials said.

He is likely to explain that he sought out the opinion from the department's Office of Legal Counsel because he wanted to explore all the legal options available to the administration in interrogating Al Qaeda suspects and to get the best possible legal advice, officials said. But as he has done in the past, Mr. Gonzales will be careful to distance himself from the opinion's severe conclusions and offer strong opposition to the use of torture against prisoners, the officials said.

Last June, in defending the administration against accusations that its polices had fostered torture, Mr. Gonzales said that ''all interrogation techniques actually authorized have been carefully vetted, are lawful and do not constitute torture.''

The White House reiterated that position on Wednesday, with Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, telling reporters that ''the policy of the administration has been very clear from the beginning that we adhere to our laws and our treaty obligations.'' He added that President Bush had made it clear ''that we do not condone torture and he would never authorize the use of torture.''

Human rights groups, however, said Mr. Gonzales should be held accountable for legal policies that they say opened the way for the physical abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and others in American custody. Some former military officials have also challenged Mr. Gonzales, saying that his positions on the Geneva Conventions and torture had endangered American troops who might themselves be taken into custody.

A coalition of groups critical of American policy in Iraq, including MoveOn.org and Amnesty International, intensified attacks on Mr. Gonzales on Wednesday by announcing the start of a ''campaign to stop torture.'' The campaign will include advertisements and lobbying of senators in opposition to Mr. Gonzales's nomination, coalition leaders said.

Wes Boyd, who helped create MoveOn.org, a liberal group that opposed President Bush in the recent election, asked: ''What does it say to the rest of the world -- let alone our own citizens -- when we nominate as the highest law enforcement officer in the United States the man who developed the rationale for circumventing the Geneva Conventions to permit the use of torture by American forces?''

White House officials said they were unconcerned by the surge of attacks this week against Mr. Gonzales.

''Keep in mind that a number of the groups and individuals raising these issues were supporters of the president's opponent in the last election,'' said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman.

''Obviously, Judge Gonzales looks forward to going before the Senate Judiciary Committee to address these issues,'' she added. ''Judge Gonzales has done an outstanding job in his current position as White House counsel, and we have every faith and confidence that he will make a great attorney general.''

Members of both parties in the Senate say they expect Mr. Gonzales to win confirmation. But in a sign that the White House is seeking to solidify its support in the face of the new attacks, Mr. Gonzales has asked a Democrat -- Ken Salazar, a newly elected senator from Colorado -- to help introduce him at his hearing on Thursday.

''It will certainly help Gonzales to have one of the Democrats' rising stars sitting next to him,'' said a Congressional official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.